Just One Night

by Rachel Lenna

  Chapter 7

  Half an hour later, after spending a good part of the time crying and cleaning myself up I walk out of the bathroom feeling like a confident woman again. I still have the tea towel with ice on my knuckles and the pain has subsided substantially.

  I am surprised at the sight that is the club now as the music seems to have increased in volume and the crowd at least doubled. I look at my phone. Surprisingly its already 11.30pm. Make’s sense. This is usually when all the hip young ones arrive to party the night away.

  Usually I am at home in bed now fast asleep. But not tonight. Nooooo tonight I somehow managed to allow myself be talked into staying in this club to wait… For a boy! A boy! Don’t think that has quite sunk in yet.

  So instead of doing what is safe I head back towards the bar to where the bar stools have been removed and the line-up is huge. “Guess not.” I say thinking that Jaydan will have to wait. Instead I head towards the VIP section, which I can’t see because there are so many people, hoping the boys haven’t left yet.

  Luck is on my side when I find Tyson sitting at the table. I walk over to him meekly, but with a straight back standing at the edge of the table. “Hi.” I yell because I have to.

  “Hey yourself.” He smiles and pats the seat next to him.

  “Where are the others?” I say plonking down next to him, relieved they are so willing to excuse my… girlieness.

  “I don’t know.” He shrugs. “We all have been taking turns staying here for you hoping that you will come back.”

  “Oh you didn’t need to do that.” I exclaim. “Of course I was going to come back! I just needed some time to pull it together.”

  “We figured.” Tyson nods and looks behind my shoulder. I turn to see what he's staring at. Jaydan dressed out of his uniform in normal clothes is standing a short distance away.

  “Jaydan?!” I gasp, my mouth dropping.

  “Yeah.” He smiles knowingly.

  “Oh my god you were hot in Uniform but out of it…” I clamp my mouth shut when I realise I am thinking out loud. He chuckles at me as he sits beside me.

  “Thanks.” He grins. “That’s a big compliment coming from you.”

  “Um…” I don’t know how to respond.

  “I want to apologise for my moment back there.” He says gesturing towards the bar saving me from another awkward moment for foot in mouth disease. “I have just waited so long to get your attention I didn’t want to lose it before I had a chance to show you who I really am.” Jaydan sounds sincere and it must be hard for a guy to say that out loud, let alone in front of his friend. Tyson doesn’t help when he starts making gagging noises. We both shoot him a death stare. He clamps his mouth shut quickly.

  “Jaydan you don’t need to apologise. I… it’s… um…” I stop rambling because I really don’t know what to say. I understand why he carried on like a caveman but I don’t know how to say it. “I’m not good at this stuff.” I confess figuring I have nothing to lose.

  “It’s okay Tara.” He smiles at me and grabs my injured hand. “How’s it feeling?” He asks as he takes the wet towel off.

  “The ice has almost melted completely through but much better.” I say as we both study it. The swelling has subsided substantially and the bleeding has stopped. “I think the ice has made it numb cos it doesn’t hurt much.”

  “Will a kiss help it too?” Jaydan asks hopefully and I laugh at his expression. A hint of cheekiness thrown in with hopefulness and something else… fear?

  “If it’s coming from you I’m sure it will be magical.” I throw back at him, catching him completely off guard. Jaydan stares at me blankly. Tyson starts gagging again.

  “Will you two go get a room or something please?” He begs. “It’s getting to sweet in here. All the women within ear shot will expect to be romanced before they take me hope! I don’t need more work!”

  “Pfft.” I say throwing the tea towel over his face. “You man whore!”

  “Proud of it!” Tyson mutters through a mouth full of towel.

  “Your just jealous bro.” Jaydan goads him as Tyson pulls the towel off. Tyson pulls a face and we all laugh.

  “Nah man there are plenty of fish in the sea.” He insists.

  “You wanna get out of here?” Jaydan asks, gesturing towards the door. I just nod. He gets up out of the booth and gives me his hand to take. At first I hesitate but do anyway as I realise figuring out how to do this will be awkward and probably uncomfortable at times. For both of us.

  He entwines his fingers with mine and leads me out of the club without another word, waving at Tyson who salutes us as we go. The bouncers all wave at him and smile at me, especially the two that chucked Joe out. I grin back at them when they bow to me.

  We step out into the cool night air and I involuntarily shudder. “You cold?” Jaydan asks instantly.

  “No no.” I say shaking my head. “Was just a shock is all. I didn’t realise it’s like an oven in there.” I gesture towards the club.

  “True.” He nods. “You hungry?” He asks when the awkwardness gets a bit much.

  “Yes I am actually.” I laugh as my stomach rumbles, agreeing.

  “Well we can’t have that can we?” Jaydan smiles. “Do you like Pancakes?”

  “Pancakes?” My mouth waters instantly. “There’s pancakes open at this time of night?”

  “There is in this part of the city. It’s only a short walk but we can catch a taxi if you prefer?”

  “I’m good.” I shake my head. I love being outside on warm summer nights, granted we are towards the end of summer but they are still warm enough to enjoy. “Let’s walk.”

  “Okay.” He nods enthusiastically and we start walking side by side in companionable silence. “So how you really feelin’?” He asks several moments later.

  “I’m okay.” I answer automatically.

  “Tara?”

  “Yes?”

  “Really?” He looks at me like he doesn’t believe me.

  “Jaydan four hours ago you were my bartender that I crushed on, now I’m holding your hand going to get pancakes after hanging out with your friends for half the night.”

  “You crushed on me?”

  “How did I know out of everything I said that’s what you would hear?”

  “Because I’m a man?”

  “You got it sweetheart.” I laugh at his wounded expression because I agree with him. “There there.” I pat his arm like you would a dog. “You don’t want to get that pretty face all frozen.”

  “Frozen?”

  “One thing my mum used to say to me when I was a kid was to not pull faces or the wind would freeze it in place like that forever.”

  “Oh my god your mum said that to you too?” Jaydan sounds so excited, like he found out a long lost treasure. “I thought my mum was the only one to ever say that to me!”

  I laugh. “No. my mum did too, it was mainly to my brothers but I got it occasionally too.”

  “Did you believe her?”

  “Of course!” I laugh. “At first anyways. What about you?”

  “Yeah right up until the eighth grade.” Jaydan looks embarrassed. “I told my friend off with the line one day when he promptly told me it was a lie. We argued about it for the whole of lunch. When I confronted mum she didn’t even know I still believed her.”

  “I bet she had a good laugh about it but.” I goad him.

  “She did. So did dad and my brother.” Jaydan grows serious suddenly. “You’re good at changing the subject but you need to answer my question anyway.”

  “What question?” I ask innocently.

  “You know what question Tara.” He frowns at me and I stare at him innocently some more. “How you feeling?”

  I sigh. I was hoping he would forget! Clearly not. “I’m in shock if you must know. Not a bad shock just a shock. Part of me thinks I’m going to wake up and it will be all a dream.”

  “It’s not a dream Beautiful.”

  I grin stu
pidly at his comment.

  “What?” He asks.

  “You are the only one who can say that to me and I don’t go all funny on them.”

  He raises an eyebrow.

  “Okay fine not as funny.” I concede.

  “I will take that as a compliment.” He kisses the back of my hand and I swoon. “Here we are.” He gestures to a shabby old building and I look at him in surprise. “Don’t judge a book by its cover Little Lady.” He smiles knowingly.

  “I’m not!” I lie. He raises that eyebrow again and I resist the urge to smooth it down. “I trust you.” I insist.

  “Good.” He says as he opens the door and we walk in. The delicious smell of pancakes, maple syrup and all things sugary hits me smack bag in the face. We are greeted to be seated fairly quickly, even though to my surprise the place is packed almost to the brim and there is a line that is almost at the door.